A jigsaw puzzle is a picture cut into interlocking pieces. Everyday Games has free online jigsaw puzzles of famous art, space photos, nature, animals, cities and food, in 24, 54 or 96 pieces, and your puzzle saves as you go. These tips help you finish any of them faster.
How to play
The pieces start scattered round the board. Drag a piece to move it; the one you pick up comes to the top.
Let go of a piece close to its spot and it snaps into place and stays there. Anywhere else, it stays where you left it.
Place every piece to finish the picture. The clock starts with your first move, and your best time is kept for each size.
Corners and edges first
Pieces with a flat side belong round the outside, and the four corners have two flat sides. Find them first and build the frame: it gives every other piece something to lock on to, and it shows you exactly how big the picture is.
Sort by color and detail
Move pieces of the same color or texture into little piles on the table: sky, water, a red roof, a face.
Look for pieces with something easy to place on them: a line, some lettering, the edge of an object.
Big areas of one color (a night sky, a calm sea) are the hardest, so leave them for last, when fewer pieces are left to try.
Read the shapes
Every inner side has either a tab sticking out or a blank cut in, and the piece next to it has the opposite. When colors don’t help, count a piece’s tabs and blanks and look for a gap with the matching outline.
Use the ghost picture
The eye button shows the picture faintly on the board, so you can see where a piece belongs before you drag it there. Turn it off for the classic challenge, with only the outline of the board to go on.
Pick your size
Easy: 24 pieces, a few minutes, and good on a phone.
Regular: 54 pieces, a proper puzzle for a coffee break.
Hard: 96 small pieces. Best on a tablet or a computer, where the pieces are bigger.
Choosing a picture
Tap the picture button to pick one from the thumbnails, or choose a category and every new puzzle comes from it at random. The pictures are public domain or openly licensed, and each one shows its title and who made it under the puzzle.